Adolescent Metacognitive Knowledge during the Quran...

Journal of Islamic Studies and Culture December 2019 Vol 7 No 2 pp 12-25

ISSN 2333-5904 (Print) 2333-5912 (Online) Copyright copy The Author(s) All Rights Reserved

Published by American Research Institute for Policy Development DOI 1015640jiscv7n2a3

URL httpsdoiorg1015640jiscv7n2a3

Adolescent Metacognitive Knowledge during the Quran Memorization Process

Ragwan Alaydrus1

Abstract

There are number of researches have studied the experience on Quran memorization but there are only small number of studies that have explored deeper how huffadhs manage their cognition for the success in memorization This current study aimed to investigate qualities of metacognitive knowledge in the proses of memorization of Quran using Flavellrsquos components of metacognitive knowledge which are task strategy and person This qualitative case study took place in one university in Malaysia used interview and think after journal to investigate the metacognitive knowledge of two young huffazs as they memorized and revised the Qurrsquoan As the result the study identified the six attributes of metacognitive knowledge understanding the nature of task understanding the influence applying memorization strategies monitoring the process utilizing resources and practicing immediate coping The results contribute to the understanding of adolescent huffadhs memorization technique and suggest the benefit of teaching metacognitive strategy in the Quran memorization

Keyword Quran memorization adolescents metacognition metacognitive knowledge

1 Introduction

Quran is a holy book of Muslim believers which is widely read and spread around the world Unlike other books Quran remains uncorrupted as God guaranteed its pureness as when it was revealed In the Quran it was mentioned ldquoIndeed it is We who sent down the Quran and indeed We will be its guardianrdquo (Quran 159) Apart from Godrsquos safeguard the Muslim tradition of memorization also contributes to the originality of the Quran Memorization which in Arabic is called hifdh was actually derived from the sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) it is known that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) memorized and revised the entire Quran with Jibreel in the last year of his life This hifdh tradition further followed by the companions as they also wrote the verses when they were confident of their perfect memorization (Ad-Dausaree 2006)

Muslim people have been encouraged to memorize the Quran Some hadith described the advantages that will be given to a huffadh (person who memorizes Qurrsquoan) in the world and hereafter One of the hadith stated about Godrsquos reward for the people of Quran and it is extended to their parents (Al-Qardhawi 2001) Laylah (2005) highlighted how memorizing Quran can benefit someone on his development of intellect even for young children He mentioned some scholars as role models in the Islamic history who became huffadh even though they were still children such as Imam Ash-Shafii and Abu Qatadah whom later on were acknowledged as having sharped intellect In this modern era memorizing the Quran was reported has positive effects to studentsrsquo academic achievement and memorizing skills (Nawaz amp Jahangir 2015 Nastiti 2015) Considering the benefits and virtues of memorizing Qurrsquoan some methods were developed to help the huffadh retain their memorization

One of the developed methods is taqriri which is a traditional strategy to gradually and repeatedly read the verses to achieve the maximum target This method is commonly used by the huffadh with supervision from a hifdh teacher (Gade 2014 Septiadi 2012) Furthermore if there is no hifdh teacher to learn with the huffadhs may utilize digital tools to assist themselves revise the verses such as E-Hafiz (Muhammad ul Qayyum Tanveer amp Syed 2012)

1 Dept of Educational Psychology amp Counseling International Islamic University Malaysia E-mail Gwanaydrusprogmailcom Phone (+62)81317972791

Ragwan Alaydrus 13

Beyond the traditional method a study found that implementing a metacognitive strategy such as mind map can enhance the performance of memorization in terms of time and understanding (Al-Mosallam 2013) Regardless of the varied technique of memorization metacognitive strategy is required to help the huffadh approaches the most suitable technique Whereas metacognition refers to higher order thinking performed by a person which involves active control over his cognitive processes (Chauhan A amp Singh N 2014) Metacognitive strategies are helpful to ensure that the memorization goal is being or has been reached Examples of metacognitive activities in hifdh Quran may include the plans to approach the target by using appropriate skills and strategies for optimal memorization and the process of facing the challenges by monitoring the used strategy and evaluating the memorization progress

There are number of researches have studied the use of metacognitive strategy in learning activities and developing critical thinking (Vrugt and Oort 2008 Hongxia and Zhibo 2010 Magno 2010 Ku and Ho 2010 Doganay and Demir 2011 Raoofi etal 2013) Hence it is significantly important to investigate the metacognitive use in memorization particularly in hifdh Quran by exploring adolescentsrsquo metacognitive knowledge

11 Statement of Problem

Memorizing Quran is a challenging task Quranrsquos unique style and structure demand cognition and affection of people who try to hold it in their memory In a hadith prophet Muhammad (pbuh) stressed the difficulty He said ldquoGuard this Quran for by He who has the soul of Muhammad in His hand it is easier for it to escape from the mind than for a camel to escaperdquo (Bukhari and Muslim) Even though God has ensured the easiness of Quran for those have open heart the effort to retain the verses in memory requires high focus and effective strategy (Gade 2014)

Putri and Uyun (2017) studied the adolescent huffadhs who find difficulty to manage themselves in memorizing Quran due to the number of activities they participated in In fact this divine task requires the cognitive ability to stay persevered apart from the sincere intention (Chairani and Subandi 2010) Other personal techniques have been explored by Yusuf (2010) from three male master students who used memorization as their learning styles It was found that the participants applied unique memorization method which is generated from their general understanding of the target to be memorized the emotional stability their personal limit of ability recognition of memory capacity and how they select the needed materialverses to be memorized and what is unnecessary Those methods basically reflect several forms of metacognitive knowledge which is the learnersrsquo knowledge about their own cognitive abilities as well as how they learn and metacognitive regulation which includes how the learner monitors and controls his cognitive processes to meet the goal However this particular previous study only investigated the methods or cognitive-based techniques in memorization of Qurrsquoan Here the study regarding metacognitive awareness is presented to make it useful to figure out how the huffadhs manage their cognition for the success in memorization project

12 Research Question

There are two research questions to guide this current study 1 Within the context of memorization Qurrsquoan what are the qualities of adolescent metacognitive knowledge 2 How does the metacognitive knowledge benefit the students in memorization process

2 Literature Review

21 Development of Metacognition

Most of the time metacognition is simply defined as ldquothinking about thinkingrdquo (Chauhan amp Singh 2014) even though the exact definition is debatable among the researchers (Shaughnessy Shaughnessy Veenman amp Kennedy 2008) Schraw and Dennison (1994) defined metacognitive as an ability to reflect upon understand and control onersquos learning

Development of metacognition is primarily traced at the age of three when children acquire some awareness of themselves and others (Kuhn 2000) Between the age of three and four children are able to accept the perspective of another person Whereas children can notice at the age of four that someonersquos belief may not necessarily be true or may not match with their own believes (Schneider 2008) The progressive changes of metacognition are related to functions of the prefrontal cortex and found as foundations for much of higher-order thinking which appears in later life (Kuhn 2000 Schneider 2008)

14 Journal of Islamic Studies and Culture Vol 7 No 2 December 2019

Kuhn developed a conceptual framework named as ldquometa-knowingrdquo which encompasses two types of cognition procedural knowledge or metacognitive knowing (knowing how) and declarative knowledge or metacognitive strategy (knowing that) Metacognitive knowing refers to young children with understanding of their mental states and metacognitive strategy is what children know about their cognitive process and how it affects their performances (Perfect amp Schwartz 2002) Study conducted by Weil et al (2013) found that there is an interaction between age group and metacognitive ability metacognitive ability increases with age during adolescence and remains stable in adulthood By concerning the gender differences metacognitive ability in adolescence and adulthood is varied across sex with better metacognitive performance in females A similar result found by Artelt and colleagues (Karlen Merki amp Ramseier 2014) which showed that the girls have higher level of domain specific metacognitive strategy knowledge in the context of text comprehension than the boys at the lower secondary education level In the context of tackling larger essays or project girls also showed higher metacognitive knowledge at the upper secondary level (Merki Ramseier amp Karlen 2013)

22 Metacognitive Knowledge

Flavell (1979) referred metacognition as the knowledge about and regulation of onersquos cognitive activities in learning processes He noted that metacognition plays an important role in communication reading comprehension language acquisition social cognition attention self-control memory self-instruction writing problem solving and various types of self-instruction

According to Flavell metacognition consists of two facets knowledge and metacognitive experience or regulation (Chauhan amp Singh 2014) Metacognitive knowledge consists primarily of knowledge or beliefs about what factors or variables act and interact in what ways to affect the course and outcome of cognitive enterprises (Flavell 1979) A study has been conducted by Bowler (2010) to explore the nature of adolescents awareness of their own thoughts and feelings The research identified thirteen categories of metacognitive knowledge related to the information search process which are balancing building a base changing course communicating connecting knowing that we do not know knowing our strengths and weaknesses parallel thinking pulling back and reflecting scaffolding understanding curiosity understanding memory understanding time and effort The taxonomy further becomes a solution for students who need a roadmap in information search

Flavell divided metacognitive knowledge into knowledge about the self and other learners (person dimension) knowledge about the tasks and what resources and information needed (task dimension) and knowledge about strategies which are likely to be effective in achieving goals (strategy dimension) (Flavell 1979) To be noted metacognitive knowledge categories refer only to knowledge of cognitive strategies not the actual use of those strategies (Pintrich 2002)

Figure 21 Three components of metacognitive knowledge (Flavell 1979)

The following examples describes the existence of metacognitive knowledge in the context of Quran

memorization

Ragwan Alaydrus 15

Table 22 Example of metacognitive knowledge in the Quran memorization process (based on Pintrich 2002)

Dimensions Examples

Strategy ldquo I know that the effective strategy to retain my memorization is using repetitionrdquo

Task ldquoSome long verses are quite easy to remember So the repetition can be done in ten times for one verserdquo

SelfPerson ldquoI get confused with these similar verses so I need to do repetition more than ten times for each verserdquo

Metacognitive strategy or strategic knowledge includes the knowledge of various strategy to complete a task Individual can have various knowledge about metacognitive strategies such as planning monitoring and regulating the cognition which are useful to respond a challenge in a task The knowledge about task allows individual to be aware of different challenges in task and know why and how to use different cognitive strategies as the suitable problem-solving technique Lastly knowledge about the self includes someonersquos self-awareness about his strengths and weaknesses and the breadth and depth of his own knowledge The self-knowledge ensures someone to apply adaptive strategies for the task and understand the possibility of a change in strategy use (Pintrich 2002)

3 Methodology

This study employed a case study approach on two individuals using think-after protocol through journal entry The purpose is to gain as much as possible information about participantsrsquo impression feeling thoughts and action regarding the strategy they used and how they respond challenges that may have emerged at the moment of Quran memorization Researcher also used in-depth qualitative interview with semi-structured protocol to probe the additional information from the journal entry

31 Participants

The study was conducted at one University in Malaysia Participants of the study were one male (Y) and one female (R) undergraduate students They were selected through purposeful sampling for which the male and female both are 20 years old The participants of this study were the adolescent huffadhs who have completed memorization of more than ten ajza (sections) of the Quran

32 Data Collection Protocols

To explore the use of metacognitive knowledge during the memorization process researcher asked the participants to write down their feelings thoughts and action including their impression about the memorization task on the think-after journal After one week researcher collected the journal and followed up the results through two sessions face-to-face interview The interview was conducted with two participants at different time The information of the interview emphasized on the experience of participants in the Quran memorization The researcher has allowed the participants to choose a language which they feel the most comfortable with Therefore the conversation has been conducted by using Bahasa Indonesia

The researcher attempted to understand the metacognitive knowledge of participants and tried to compare between male and female participants Data analysis was involved with interpretation of raw data with the use of coding by separating the empirical data into meaningful parts In this present study researcher generated codes from the statements of participants in their journal entry While coding the researcher produced themes or categories by distinguishing the research data and given a code as the attribute (Boeije 2009) After analyzing the journal entry researcher created interview questions from what should be explored more to complete the information As a further step the researcher proceeded the recorder materials which have been gained through interview into transcription process Transcription is the process of converting recorded material into text and it allows researchers to begin the interview data analysis (King and Horrocks 2010)

4 Findings

Two participants in this study are adolescents who study in their first year of university They have been involved in memorization of Quran for more than six years for the male and three years for the female


They both believed that memorization of Quran is a lifelong process which demands their dedication The researcher found more similarities rather than differences of metacognitive awareness among the participants Whereas the emergence of metacognitive awareness in adolescents was mentioned by Weil et al (2013) where he stated that metacognitive ability increases with age Furthermore this current study found there are six attributes of metacognitive knowledge during the Quran memorization process which is gained from think-after protocol and interview The elaboration of these attributes are given as follows

Table 2 Attribues of adolescent metacognitive knowledge

No Attributes Components of the attributes

1

Understanding the nature of task Understanding the easy task

Understanding the difficult task

2 Understanding the influence Understanding emotion and motivation

Understanding challenges

Understanding supported environment

3 Applying memorization strategies Applying repetition

Understanding the meaning

Chunking the task

4 Monitoring the process Setting a memorization target

Applying memorization routine

5 Utilizing resources Revising with Friends

Attending Halaqah (study group) Hifdh teacher

Using Technology (Audio Murattal or YouTube Video)

Using Quran with translation

6 Practicing Immediate coping Avoiding distraction

Taking break

Reflecting

Adjusting the hidfh routine

Learning from mistakes

41 Understanding the nature of task

Task in this part refers to hifdh Quran which is the activity of memorization and revision Quranic verses Memorization is a process when the young huffadhs try to memorize some new verses and the revision is occurring when huffadhs are recalling what they have memorized to streghthen their memorization The two participants who have been involved in the memorization of Quran for a long time have their own perception regarding the nature of the memorization task Understanding the nature of task is important for the young huffadhs to choose the suitable memorization or revision strategy The first impression that participants wrote in the daily journal reflects their perception about the nature of the task and its level of difficulty Based on the information from the think-after journal and the interview researcher identified two level of task participants perceived during the Quran memorization process easy and difficult task

411 Understanding the easy task

Both participants have similar experiences regarding challenges of the task In doing the Quran revision they perceived particular verses are easy to be revised due to their early experience of memorization As the male huffadhs remembered the extra effort they put to memorize those early verses He said in the interview

ldquoBecause this was the first section that I memorized so my memorization is quite strong That time I applied the repetition method in which I recited one verse 10 to 20 times so the memory is still there and easy to be revisedrdquo

The female participant supported the above statement She wrote on the journal

The chapter is easy to be revised because it is placed in the beginning of the Qur‟an it is in the early sections

Ragwan Alaydrus 17

Apart from that in doing the revision participants identified the verses were easy due to the similar pattern of those verses and memorization proses which employed lot of repetitions Male participant tend to aware of familiarity in some verses due to their similar patterns He wrote in his journal

In the second chapter there are a lot of verses that are easy to memorize and revise due to their similar patterns such as in verse number 159 and number 174

وى إى ٱلذيي يكتووى ها أزلا يل ن ٱلل ـ ٮ يل ن ٱٱ ل ـ ة zwnj أ و ـ للاا ٱلكت ـ ٱل ـ هين ت ها ت ـ هي ٱلث ي وة ل يزڪي ن ل ن إى ٱلذيي يكتووى ها أزل يوم ٱلق ـ ٮ ها يأكلوى تطو ن إل ٱلار ل يڪليو ن ٱٱ ل ـ ا قل ال zwnj أ و ة يشتز ى ت ۦ ثو هي ٱلڪت ـ ٱ

عذاب أل ن Female participant explained the same experience she indicated two verses which contain repetition of meaning She referred to verses 110 and 114 of Surah Ali-Imran below

ة أخرجت للناس مر و ل ر و ن و ل ننر كنتم خير أم ن ٱلوؤهوى ؤمن و لل ا ل ن هي ة لكاى خ ز لو ءاهي أهل ٱلڪت ـ

قوى أڪ زهن ٱل ـ

لي ٱ ل ي خر مر و ل ر و ن و ل نكر ؤمن و لل ٮ هي ٱلل ـ ل ـ زعوى ٱل ز ٲ أ و ي ـ

The attitude of both young huffadhs towards the task was also influenced by their perception about the verseschapter In the think-after journal participants expressed their interests on particular verses As the male participant wrote

I love this chapter number 5 Especially verses number 59 that tells about leadership So revision along with reading the meaning is so fun

Experienced the same interest towards different verses female participant wrote

I love this chapter because it is easy to be repeated It is also easy to be recited and understood

Lastly male participant indicated that as much as he gets exposed to certain chapter it will be easier for him to memorize it He wrote this in the journal

I found this chapter was frequently recited by Indonesian people so it is so familiar Now I am staying overnight in a program and the activity is studying surah As-Sajdah So I feel the revision is more fun

412 Understanding the Harder Task

Eventhough some long verses are easy to be memorized as participants said in the previous section but if the verses are too long the participant may tend to feel less confident Male participant explained this in the interview

ldquoIf it (a verse) is long really long just like Al-Baqarah verse 282 which is one verse in a full page I take a lengthy process to memorize it I usually complete more than one page a day But for this particular verse I only finished one page (for a day)hellipbecause I perceived this verse is so long and it made me feel ldquoohit‟s so difficultrdquo

To cope with the difficult task he tried to chunk the verses and repeat them several times He described this during the interview

ldquoThat time I memorized it based on waqf at every stopping place And to be honest I could not use translation It should be repeated That timeyes maybe I read the translation but because it was so long so I only recited them repeatedly in every waqf ten timesten timesIt took really long time I only memorized one page for a day that time But that‟s itonly that onerdquo

Doing a regular revision is a commitment of both participants For them revising the memorized verses is harder than memorizing itself They admitted that revision is more challenging when there was a long break happened before focusing on the verses again

The female participant admitted this in her journal

I feel it is more difficult because it has been so long I did not revise it So firstly I read one page two or three times then I started memorizing ayah by ayah and read the meaning

The male participant documented the similar experience in his journal


These two chapters is hard to memorize because I was rushing in memorizing it and I did not repeat my recitation many times So when I revised it I forgot many words It was like I got blank

42 Understanding the Influence

Participants were aware of the internal and external influences that affected their routine of memorization For example participantsrsquo emotional state and motivation may affect their performance in memorization Besides they could also identify the things that become challenges in doing Quran memorization consistently

421 Understand the emotion and motivation

Additionally the participants have written about their feelings in the think-after journal while reading particular verses Both participants have showed that how they could recognize their feeling toward some verses whether they perceived them as easy or more challenging They have written in the journals

I am pleased because this verse is long easy to recite and understand (Female participant)

I feel sad and demotivated because I forgot many verses (Male participant)

Participantsrsquo emotional state further influence their attitude towards the memorization task For example if they did not feel motivated they tend to not focus in doing the revision

422 Understanding the challenges

In this study it is found that participants are able to identify the challenges that may distract them from achieving their goals Based on the participants notes from think-after journal participants have recognized that the challenges are commonly originated from themselves such as physical fatigue laziness sleepiness while reciting Quran memory loss and inaccurate self-confidence Female participant mentioned sleepiness few times in her journal as one of the challenges For example she wrote

As usual memorizing in the morning is always making me sleepy

As one of common internal challenges forgetfulness was experienced by the male participant He said

I could not easily recall some verses so I should check in the Quran several times

Likewise participants have also identified the external factors as challenges even though those are not necessarily negative such as the use of smartphone and organizational activities As the male participant said during the interview

ldquoIt is difficult if I use smartphone I mean it is inevitable Last time I spent my time for reading Quran but now I am using social media and even for reading Quran I use smartphonerdquo

423 Awareness of the supportive environment

The influence of environment is also noticed by the participants Both participants were aware that they are very much influenced by their surroundings Participants have identified the supportive and sound environment in where they were able to memorize well without distraction Male participant said the early morning is the best time for Quran memorization He said during the interview

ldquoMy pesantren (Islamic boarding school) had a schedule for tahajud (midnight praying) so I used to utilize that opportunity to memorize the Qur‟an At that moment my mind was still fresh and empty (from distraction) I could memorize easier and fasterrdquo

43 Applying Memorization Strategy

The researcher has identified two categories that indicate the knowledge of strategy performed by the two participants It is noted that the two participants have employed particular strategy to complete their memorization task Generally both male and female participants use multiple strategies interchangeably based on the nature of task they are facing As an instance sometimes for the revision of memorized verses both participants tend to practice repetition but when it comes to memorization of new verses they also practice repetition while trying to learn the meaning

Ragwan Alaydrus 19

431 Applying Repetition

Repetition is the common strategy to memorize new verses the more individuals repeat a verse the more they will remember the verse Repetition in memorization is when the huffadh recites the Quranic verses many times while looking at the Mushaf for example ten times Then he may recite the Quran in another ten times without looking at the Mushaf The huffadh move to another verse when he is confident that he has memorized the current verses well Whereas if it is repetition in revision the huffadhs will recite the memorized verses several times in any time they want The male participant further revealed the situation where he needs to apply repetition technique He said during the interview

ldquoMy technique is to divide the verses If the verses are too long just like a verse in Al-Baqarah which is located in a full page In that case I memorize by following the waqaf Honestly I couldn‟t use the translation I need to use repetition that time Maybe I just read the translation because if the verses are too long it is a risk to easily forget them So I just repeat every waqaf ten timesten times It took long time and I could memorize one page only though in usually in normal case I could memorize more versesrdquo

The practice of multiple strategies is considered as favorable because the participants have been aware of its effectiveness As an evidence female participant wrote in the journal

I read one page for two times then I repeated once for each verse After that I accumulated the verses from the beginning until the end of the page I was reading together with understanding the meaning of those verses It made me more fluent in revising sessionrdquo

432 Understanding the meaning

In the interview the male participant explained how understanding the meaning of Quranic verses helps him in memorization He usually read the verses with the translation to comprehend what those verses talk about He said

ldquoWhy does using translation (for Quran memorization) help me because if I memorize and understand the meaning understand the storyline I notice that when I revise a verse I can recall the next verses However there is a risk for this technique that if we forget the meaning we‟ll forget the story it means we forget the verses as well But still now my focus is finishing revision using repetition techniquerdquo

Female participant support the effectiveness of this strategy because once she forgets the verses during recitation she can refer to the translation She shared her technique during interview

ldquoSo I did repetition for the early Juz because I have strong memory in those parts I just recite repeatedlyBut when I need to memorize the new verses I should read with the meaning so it can retain longer in my memoryrdquo

433 Chunking the task

Participants were aware of their capacity in learning new verses or revising the memorized verses In doing the revision participants would identify some places that seems hard and they would start to revise those places at first For example male participant chunked some sections and revised the verses from the most challenging section He said when the researcher asked about his revision system

ldquoEverything is started from Al-Baqarah But I devided them in this way one to five (section) which section I was not so good at So I divided every five sections 1-5 5-6-10 11-15 Then I chose which part I was not so confident so I started from that partrdquo

In memorizing new verses participants also tried to chunk the verses into some parts For example male participant chunked one long verse into some parts based on the waqf He did that because that particular verse was too long As the male participant said

ldquoThat time I memorized it based on waqf at every stopping place And to be honest I could not use translation It should be repeated That timeyes maybe I read the translation but because it was so long so I only recited them repeatedly in every waqf ten timesten timesIt really took long time I only memorized one page for a day that time But that‟s itonly that onerdquo

44 Monitoring the process

Memorization of Quran requires self-discipline thoughout the process Participants admitted that they need to build their own system to support them engage in Quran memorization For this both of participants have set their own target and routine based on their different condition


441 Setting A Memorization Target

Both male and female participant have their own target in memorization or revision The target is a standard to be followed as their routine The female participant determined different targets for easier and harder memorization task She said in the interview

ldquoMy daily target for the fluent memorization is five to ten pages But for I said it is like the first time memorization it is only two pagesrdquo

On the other hand male participant set one section of Quran for his personal minimum target He said

ldquoIf I revised by myself my target is one section for one day I do that after maghrib until isha Though sometimes it does not reach one section But it is my daily targetrdquo

442 Applying Memorization Routine

Participants set different schedules for their memorization routine Setting the spesific time to do revision for example as part of self-disicpline Basically they tried to follow their set routine but there are some cases when they have to adjust the plan In daily basis the male participant allocated his time for revision in the morning and evening He said

ldquoFor me I joined a tahfidh program in campus apart from my personal revision So I actually have my own schedule after magrib or in other time But for the tahfidh program it is conducted every morning around 7 or 8 amrdquo

As university students participants need to manage their time as they usually have to attend classes even until the evening time Female participant told that she used the free time after class to cover the morning routine She told how she managed to do the revision to prepare the hifdh program

ldquoHmmfor example that day is more to prepare the last sections because it is hard as if the first time I memorized it So it only gets two (sections) But for the first sections for example I had evening class like tonight I have evening class At 5 pm the class is done So after that class I will do the revision until the magrib prayerrdquo

45 Utilizing resources

To monitor the memorization the young huffadhs are utilizing various recourses to help them in memorizing new verses or revising their recitation Participants also agreed that they need other peoplersquos help to evaluate the progress of their memorization

451 Attending Halaqah (hifdh program)

Asking Quran teacher (Ustadh) and friends is mostly done by the participants to evaluate their fluency and correctness in reciting the verses Quran teachers are very helpful in giving correction to their recitation As male participant recalled his experience

ldquoMaybe I used to think that the important thing is just memorizing I did not really pay attention to the waqf (the rules and signs of stopping) So when I revised my recitation to a Quran teacher in this campus Subhanallah (God is perfect) he monitored every error in my waqf He said my recitation is wrong if I make errors in stoppingrdquo

452 Revising with friends

The both participants have found that some friends who have the similar activity of Quran memorization are good at giving support to maintain motivation and doing peer-evaluation As the female participant admitted in the interview

ldquoMy surroundings very much influence me So I should really find some friends who are also actively involving in Quran memorization Because if my close friends are not doing the same thing I am worried that I will not improve in my memorizationrdquo

The male participant was also aware of the benefit of finding support from other people in Quran memorization process

Ragwan Alaydrus 21

ldquoI always try to find any resources that can help me in monitoring my recitation I have joined this and that I have searched for partner to listen to my recitation Because I know if we are alone nobody could monitor or control us But if we engage in any group we will be aware of our responsibility and be more focusrdquo

453 Using Technology (Audio Murattal or YouTube Video)

Apart from the significant people to monitor the quality of recitation the male participant is using technology to help himself improving his Quran recital He said during the interview

ldquoNow I start listening to the murattal (Quran recitation) just like from YouTube I will find Misyary Al-Rasyid or anyone but I just listening to only one reciter So I mean I want to follow the way they recite Because I think it is not enough if my recitation does not sound beautifulrdquo

However for the female participant listening to Quran recitation (murattal) from YouTube was done to replace the regular revision during her menstrual period when reciting the Quran is considered as forbidden

ldquoMaybe just listening to the murattal when I am in period and I do not feel to recite for revision so I just listen to the murattal and follow the recitationrdquo

454 Using Quran translation

The male participant told about his early experience of memorizing the Qurrsquoan It was very difficult for him to memorize faster until his Quran teacher at high school suggested him to use Quran with translation so he could understand the verses that he recited Since he have learned Arabic his teacher hoped that when he is reciting the verses and remembering the meaning he can predict what will be the next verses

ldquoSo I tried to used the Quran translation that big one that one was Quran with word to word translation The memorization process was a bit longer but because I was also studying Arabic so I knew the meaning The memorization was like reading a story and alhamdulillah when I was in class two junior high school my progress was good as my other friendsrdquo

46 Practicing Immediate Coping

The knowledge about strategy also includes how the participants cope with the challenges they faced during the memorization of Quran Since memorizing activity requires conducive environment both participants need to cope whenever the distraction comes and interrupt their plan or ongoing activity

461 Avoiding distraction

Both male and female participants were practicing immediate coping to stay focus when they were in public place if there is a need to recite the Quran for Hifdh If they find any distraction the will move to quiter place The female participant also did the similar action she documented in the journal

I memorized in the masjid when there were so many people It distracted my focus So I moved to the corner to avoid the crowd

462 Taking break

Participants were also aware of the challenges while they reacted with different responses in different situations As an evidence the participants sometimes choose to take a break in one moment for rest or sleeping depends on their physical needs As the female documented in her journal different responses when she was sleepy

Because it was in the morning and the weather was so cold I easily felt sleepy But then I used my phone after that I continued my revision

Unlike abovementioned reaction whereby she was trying to push herself to keep doing the revision at other time she chose to sleep

As usual memorizing the Quran in the morning always makes me feel sleepy now I decided to sleep

463 Reflecting

In another circumstance the participants were likely to push themselves to be more persistent if they realized that they were not supposed to leave the responsibility Female participant said in the interview


ldquoSometimes if I feel lazy I just follow my laziness but when I realize that I should push myself then I talk to myself bdquono I cannot be like thisrdquo at least I have recited some versesrdquo

Being consistent was not easy for the participants especially when there are other activities and entertainments that took their attention So when it comes to memorizing they tried to motivate themselves to overcome laziness Female participant even tried to do self-talk when she was facing a difficult memorization task She wrote in the journal

In the beginning I felt quite lazy when I saw the verses But then I realize I should preserve my hifdh Then I tried to believe that the verses are easy

464 Adjusting the hifdh routine

To balance the study and hifdh schedule the male participant tried to manage the portion of his memorization task In the situation when he could not finish the hifdh at one time he will continue the revision at another time He admitted this in his journal

I could not do revision simultaneously due to an agenda that I could not leave so I divide the revision for two times

465 Learning from mistake

Male articipants realized that rushing in Quran memorization is not good to maintain the hifdh because he might miss the details for example in following the proper waqf He wrote in the journal

I already did the revision incoherently at the waqf so it is difficult to fix it Then I recited it repeatedly until I feel that I made the proper recitation as before

5 Discussion

It is interesting to figure out the significance of metacognitive knowledge in memorization process since there are number of studies have noted the metacognitive use within different cognitive tasks such as reading information search and writing (Raoofi et al 2013 Hongxia amp Zhibo 2010 Huff ampNietfeld 2009 Dabarera Renandya amp Zhang 2014 Bowler 2010) In this current study researcher highlighted the use of metacognitive knowledge by the participants contributes to studentsrsquo performance in Quran memorization in two ways 1) with the metacognition awareness the participants could identify and adjust the suitable memorization strategy in accordance with their personal condition within various circumstances 2) The participants may also maintain their consistency in memorization by recognizing the internal and external influences to give their proper response

The knowledge of participants about the effectiveness of particular method leads them to better understanding of the suitable strategy to be employed Through their experiences participants have managed to recognize which are the memorization strategies that work effectively in a challenging task and which method can be employed in a simple task Studies revealed that with metacognitive knowledge learners can adjust their approaches in different tasks by utilizing different strategies they may also plan a strategy based on the understanding of their own abilities (Pintrich 2002)

Maintaining consistency is very challenging in the memorization of Quran The Huffadhs need to be consistent to retain the recitation by continually doing revision with or without guidance from hifdh teacher This fact is realized by the two participants whereby they consciously seek for supportive environment motivation and helpful resources to create the support system throughout the process This is in line with what other studies suggested in terms of the supportive condition for the young Huffadhs Rosidi (2016) included the importance of conducive environment and the personal approach such as listening to the Quran reciter read the Quran in prayers and engage in in-pair repetition

How can we apply these attributes of metacognitive knowledge in memorization process There are some suggestions as follows

Understanding the nature of task Participants in this study were able to identify the less challenging or more challenging task since they already involved in Quran memorization for years They were memorizing Quranic verses in different lengths and interestingly prefer quite longer verses than shorter but not so long This preference comes through experience How about the beginner huffadh they may start with the smaller task to give them sense of competence It will also be beneficial to inform suggested strategies for different types of task

Ragwan Alaydrus 23

Understanding the influence Being a huffadh is not two or three years task rather it is a life-long responsibility since the huffadh have to preserve the Quran in their memory for the whole life There must be challenges from both internal and external self

For being consistent in this journey acknowledging strenghts and weaknesses are the first step for self-regulation Knowing the nature of self helps the huffadh to find suitable resources avoid the distraction even search for emotional support during the process Planning a memorization routine is one of the example in this study

One participant preferred the morning time and another chose to memorize in the evening time This different preference was due to their understanding of their own mood and physical condition

Applying memorization strategies This knowledge of strategy also comes with experience So evaluating what memorization strategy that works and does not work is important to find the most suitable one Besides strategy follows the person means the huffadhrsquos own ability For example one huffadh may practice repetition ten times and feel confident that he has memorized the verses However another huffadh may do twenty times until he is sure with his memorization Stretegies also depend on the task challenges As one participant experienced in this study it was not efficient if he start learning the meaning of a very long verse before memorizing it like what he usually does So he practiced repetition since it is a faster way to memorize that particular long verse

Monitoring the process Setting a target and stick to the routine are important to maintain consistency Participantsrsquo awareness of their performance and quality of their memorization are translated into targets that they want to achieve They were also aware that following a routine kept them engaged in Quran memorization So to be in control of Quran memorization process start with making long and shorterm goals Then execute the goals through daily routine This routine includes when will the huffadh revise or memorize the Qurrsquoan and how much the memorization task they will focus on a day

Utilizing the resources Resources are very much related to the huffadhs‟ needs Based on the experience of the young huffadhs in this study there should be other people that may help the huffadhs by listening or correcting their recitation So it is suggested for those who want to involve in Quran memorization to join madrasa (Islamic school) or searching for hifdh teacher Choosing a suitable Quran mushaf and listening to a good Quran recitation are the additional things that can ease the huffadhs in memorization or revision

Practicing Immediate Coping Participantsrsquo immediate coping indicates their commitment and persistence This also shows that Quran memorization is not always a perfect journey At the situation where revising the Quran is too hard a huffadh need to reflect to the intention and his noble vision As what participants experience this reflection includes the awareness of how to balance things make a priority decide when to continue and when to stop and negotiate when two activities seem equally important This also needs honest evaluation to ownself whether a huffadh already did his best in a task or not Otherwise a huffadh may tend to search for excusess rather than immediately cope with the situation

6 Conclusion and Implication

The qualities of two young huffadhs in terms of metacognitive knowledge within the memorization of Quran have been demonstrated in this study Both participants are aware of their performances in memorizing and revising their recitation This metacognitive awareness helps the participants to adjust their memorization strategy based on the nature of task instead of memorizing without planning Metacognition is also significant to maintain the consistency by understanding the internal and external challenges and the way to overcome them In addition this finding may suggest the importance of improving metacognitive awareness for the success in memorization of Qurrsquoan This awareness may help the young huffadh to find suitable resources that fit to their needs For the hifdh teacher or senior huffadh not only teaching young huffadhs about tajweed (set of rules for the correct recitation of the Qurrsquoan) they also need to share their experiences regarding effective strategies of memorizationrevision This may support young huffadhs emotionally and help them to follow the strategies that match with their unique characteristics References Abu Laylah Muhammed (2005) The Quran and The Gospels Egypt Al-Falah Foundation

Ad-Dausaree Maḥmūd ibn Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ (2006) The Magnificence of the Quran Riyadh Maktaba Dar-Us-Salam


Al-Mosallam E A (2013 December) Towards improving Quran memorization using mind maps In Advances in Information Technology for the Holy Quran and Its Sciences (32519) 2013 Taibah University International Conference on (pp 128-132) IEEE

Bacon L amp MacKinnon L (2014) A flexible framework for metacognitive modelling and development Proceedings of ICEL 7-14

Boeije H (2009) Analysis in qualitative research London Sage publications Bowler L (2010) A Taxonomy of Adolescent Metacognitive Knowledge During the Information search

process Library amp Information Science Research 32(1) 27-42 Chairani L amp Subandi M A (2010) Psikologi santri penghafal al-Qurrsquoan Peranan regulasi diri Yogyakarta Pustaka

Pelajar Chauhan A amp Singh N (2014) Metacognition A conceptual framework International Journal of Education and

Psychological Research 3 21-22 Doganay A amp Demir O (2011) Comparison of the Level of Using Metacognitive Strategies during Study between

High Achieving and Low Achieving Prospective Teachers Educational Sciences Theory and Practice 11(4) 2036-2043

Flavell J H (1979) Metacognition and cognitive monitoring A new area of cognitivendashdevelopmental inquiry American psychologist 34(10) 906

Gade A M (2004) Perfection Makes Practice Learning Emotion and the Recited Qur‟an n in Indonesia USA University of Hawaii Press

Gade F (2014) Implementasi metode takrar dalam pembelajaran menghafal Al-Qurrsquoan Jurnal Ilmiah Didaktika 14(2) Hongxia Y amp Zhibo H (2010) A review of the empirical research on metacognition in ESLEFL writing

In International Forum of Teaching and Studies (Vol 6 No 2 p 34) American Scholars Pres Inc Karlen Y Merki K M ampRamseier E (2014) The effect of individual differences in the development of

metacognitive strategy knowledge Instructional Science 42(5) 777-794 King N ampHorrocks C (2010) Interviews in qualitative research London Sage Ku K Y amp Ho I T (2010) Metacognitive strategies that enhance critical thinking Metacognition and learning 5(3)

251-267 Kuhn D (2000) Metacognitive development Current directions in psychological science 9(5) 178-181 Magno C (2010) The role of metacognitive skills in developing critical thinking Metacognition and learning 5(2) 137-

156 Merki K M Ramseier E ampKarlen Y (2013) Reliability and validity analyses of a newly developed test to assess

learning strategy knowledge Journal of cognitive education and psychology 12(3) 391 Muhammad A ul Qayyum Z Tanveer S amp Syed A Z (2012) E-hafiz Intelligent system to help Muslims in

recitation and memorization of Quran Life Science Journal 9(1) 534-541 Nastiti N A (2015) Pengaruh Tahfidz Al-Qur‟an Terhadap Daya Ingat Anak Di Tk Islam Mardisiwi Pajang Laweyan

Surakarta Tahun Ajaran 20142015 (Doctoral dissertation Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta) Nawaz N amp Jahangir S F (2015) Effects of memorizing Quran by heart (hifz) on later academic

achievement Journal of Islamic Studies and Culture 3(1) 58-64 Perfect T J amp Schwartz B L (Eds) (2002) Applied metacognition USA Cambridge University Press Pintrich P R (2002) The role of metacognitive knowledge in learning teaching and assessing Theory into

practice 41(4) 219-225 Raoofi S Chan S H Mukundan J amp Rashid S M (2013) Metacognition and secondforeign language

learning English Language Teaching 7(1) 36 Rosidi A (2016) Motivasi Santri dalam Menghafal Al-Quran (Studi Multi Kasus di Pondok Pesantren Ilmu Al-

Quran (PPIQ) PP Nurul Jadid Paiton Probolinggo dan Pondok Pesantren Tahfizhul Al-Quran Raudhatusshalihin Wetan Pasar Besar Malang) Al Qodiri Jurnal Pendidikan Sosial dan Keagamaan 10(1) 53-82

Saptadi H (2012) Faktor-faktor Pendukung Kemampuan Menghafal Al-Quran dan Implikasinya dalam Bimbingan dan Konseling Jurnal Bimbingan Konseling 1(2)

Schneider W (2008) The development of metacognitive knowledge in children and adolescents Major trends and implications for education Mind Brain and Education 2(3) 114-121

Schraw G (1998) Promoting general metacognitive awareness Instructional science 26(1) 113-125 Shaughnessy M F Veenman M amp Kennedy C K (2008) Meta-cognition A recent review of research theory and

perspectives New York Nova Publishers

Ragwan Alaydrus 25

Vrugt A amp Oort F J (2008) Metacognition Achievement Goals Study Strategies and Academic Achievement Pathways to Achievement Metacognition and Learning 3(2) 123-146

Weil L G Fleming S M Dumontheil I Kilford E J Weil R S Rees G amp Blakemore S J (2013) The development of metacognitive ability in adolescence Consciousness and Cognition 22(1) 264-271

Yusuf M (2010) Memorization as A Learning style A Balance Approach to Academic Excellence OIDA International Journal of Sustainable Development Vol 1 No 6 pp 49-58 2010

Ragwan Alaydrus 13

Beyond the traditional method a study found that implementing a metacognitive strategy such as mind map can enhance the performance of memorization in terms of time and understanding (Al-Mosallam 2013) Regardless of the varied technique of memorization metacognitive strategy is required to help the huffadh approaches the most suitable technique Whereas metacognition refers to higher order thinking performed by a person which involves active control over his cognitive processes (Chauhan A amp Singh N 2014) Metacognitive strategies are helpful to ensure that the memorization goal is being or has been reached Examples of metacognitive activities in hifdh Quran may include the plans to approach the target by using appropriate skills and strategies for optimal memorization and the process of facing the challenges by monitoring the used strategy and evaluating the memorization progress

There are number of researches have studied the use of metacognitive strategy in learning activities and developing critical thinking (Vrugt and Oort 2008 Hongxia and Zhibo 2010 Magno 2010 Ku and Ho 2010 Doganay and Demir 2011 Raoofi etal 2013) Hence it is significantly important to investigate the metacognitive use in memorization particularly in hifdh Quran by exploring adolescentsrsquo metacognitive knowledge

11 Statement of Problem

Memorizing Quran is a challenging task Quranrsquos unique style and structure demand cognition and affection of people who try to hold it in their memory In a hadith prophet Muhammad (pbuh) stressed the difficulty He said ldquoGuard this Quran for by He who has the soul of Muhammad in His hand it is easier for it to escape from the mind than for a camel to escaperdquo (Bukhari and Muslim) Even though God has ensured the easiness of Quran for those have open heart the effort to retain the verses in memory requires high focus and effective strategy (Gade 2014)

Putri and Uyun (2017) studied the adolescent huffadhs who find difficulty to manage themselves in memorizing Quran due to the number of activities they participated in In fact this divine task requires the cognitive ability to stay persevered apart from the sincere intention (Chairani and Subandi 2010) Other personal techniques have been explored by Yusuf (2010) from three male master students who used memorization as their learning styles It was found that the participants applied unique memorization method which is generated from their general understanding of the target to be memorized the emotional stability their personal limit of ability recognition of memory capacity and how they select the needed materialverses to be memorized and what is unnecessary Those methods basically reflect several forms of metacognitive knowledge which is the learnersrsquo knowledge about their own cognitive abilities as well as how they learn and metacognitive regulation which includes how the learner monitors and controls his cognitive processes to meet the goal However this particular previous study only investigated the methods or cognitive-based techniques in memorization of Qurrsquoan Here the study regarding metacognitive awareness is presented to make it useful to figure out how the huffadhs manage their cognition for the success in memorization project

12 Research Question

There are two research questions to guide this current study 1 Within the context of memorization Qurrsquoan what are the qualities of adolescent metacognitive knowledge 2 How does the metacognitive knowledge benefit the students in memorization process

2 Literature Review

21 Development of Metacognition

Most of the time metacognition is simply defined as ldquothinking about thinkingrdquo (Chauhan amp Singh 2014) even though the exact definition is debatable among the researchers (Shaughnessy Shaughnessy Veenman amp Kennedy 2008) Schraw and Dennison (1994) defined metacognitive as an ability to reflect upon understand and control onersquos learning

Development of metacognition is primarily traced at the age of three when children acquire some awareness of themselves and others (Kuhn 2000) Between the age of three and four children are able to accept the perspective of another person Whereas children can notice at the age of four that someonersquos belief may not necessarily be true or may not match with their own believes (Schneider 2008) The progressive changes of metacognition are related to functions of the prefrontal cortex and found as foundations for much of higher-order thinking which appears in later life (Kuhn 2000 Schneider 2008)









memorization

Ragwan Alaydrus 15


Dimensions Examples





3 Methodology


31 Participants





4 Findings






1








Chunking the task








Taking break

Reflecting










Ragwan Alaydrus 17












































Ragwan Alaydrus 19






































Ragwan Alaydrus 21















462 Taking break





463 Reflecting












5 Discussion






Ragwan Alaydrus 23





































Ragwan Alaydrus 25












memorization

Ragwan Alaydrus 15


Dimensions Examples





3 Methodology


31 Participants





4 Findings






1








Chunking the task








Taking break

Reflecting










Ragwan Alaydrus 17












































Ragwan Alaydrus 19






































Ragwan Alaydrus 21















462 Taking break





463 Reflecting












5 Discussion






Ragwan Alaydrus 23





































Ragwan Alaydrus 25




Ragwan Alaydrus 15


Dimensions Examples





3 Methodology


31 Participants





4 Findings






1








Chunking the task








Taking break

Reflecting










Ragwan Alaydrus 17












































Ragwan Alaydrus 19






































Ragwan Alaydrus 21















462 Taking break





463 Reflecting












5 Discussion






Ragwan Alaydrus 23





































Ragwan Alaydrus 25








1








Chunking the task








Taking break

Reflecting










Ragwan Alaydrus 17












































Ragwan Alaydrus 19






































Ragwan Alaydrus 21















462 Taking break





463 Reflecting












5 Discussion






Ragwan Alaydrus 23





































Ragwan Alaydrus 25




Ragwan Alaydrus 17












































Ragwan Alaydrus 19






































Ragwan Alaydrus 21















462 Taking break





463 Reflecting












5 Discussion






Ragwan Alaydrus 23





































Ragwan Alaydrus 25

























Ragwan Alaydrus 19






































Ragwan Alaydrus 21















462 Taking break





463 Reflecting












5 Discussion






Ragwan Alaydrus 23





































Ragwan Alaydrus 25
























Ragwan Alaydrus 21















462 Taking break





463 Reflecting












5 Discussion






Ragwan Alaydrus 23





































Ragwan Alaydrus 25














5 Discussion






Ragwan Alaydrus 23





































Ragwan Alaydrus 25




Ragwan Alaydrus 23





































Ragwan Alaydrus 25






























Ragwan Alaydrus 25




Adolescent Metacognitive Knowledge during the Quran...

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